OCU vs. USAO women's basketball preview

Free pizza offered to OCU students

JoHanna Beathard contributes 3.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game for OCU.

Women's Basketball | 1/25/2017 3:24:00 PM

6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University meets USAO, which holds the third place in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings. OCU students in attendance will get free pizza.
Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students, while OCU students, faculty and staff are allowed into all regular-season OCU athletics events for free with their ID.

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU hammered Texas Wesleyan 91-65 on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. The Stars (16-2, 7-1 SAC) reached 90 points for the sixth time this season.
Daniela Galindo, a 5-foot-10 junior from Shattuck, Okla., filled the stat sheet with 23 points, four assists, three steals and five 3-pointers. Galindo accumulates 16.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.50 steals per game plus an NAIA-high 92.5 percent free-throw percentage.
Daniela Wallen, a 5-11 senior from Caracas, Venezuela, notched 21 points and eight thefts. Wallen produces 24.2 points, 9.0 rebounds and 4.06 steals a game. She leads the NAIA in scoring, steals per game and steals (73). Janae Haag, a 5-10 senior from Olpe, Kan., had 12 points, four rebounds and six assists with 5-for-5 shooting from the floor. Haag averages 5.4 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists a contest.
The Stars lead the NAIA with a 50.4 percent field-goal percentage and 80.9 percent shooting from the free-throw line. To see where OCU ranks against the NAIA statistically, click here.
Oklahoma City went to eighth in the latest rankings. OCU improved its streak of top-25 appearances to 207 consecutive polls since 1999-2000. OCU owns national championships from 1988, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2012, 2014 and 2015. SAC coaches installed the Stars as the league's preseason favorite. OCU has won or shared the SAC regular-season crown 16 times.
OCU holds a 51-3 advantage in the all-time series against USAO. The Stars held off USAO 52-49 on Feb. 20, 2016 at Abe Lemons Arena. Wallen and Leah Cheney drilled key 3-pointers in the final 1:10.

ABOUT THE DROVERS: Science & Arts of Oklahoma topped Southwestern Christian 73-54 on Saturday in Chickasha, Okla. USAO (8-8, 6-2 SAC) reeled off a 14-0 fourth-quarter onslaught to take its fifth win in six outings.
Dierra Ely, a 5-10 junior, sparked USAO with 22 points, five assists and eight steals. Ely records 15.5 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.56 steals a contest. Darian Hill, a 5-8 junior, had 16 points, three assists, two steals and five treys. Hill averages 7.6 points and 2.4 rebounds a game.
USAO ranks 11th among the NAIA hitting 7.8 3-pointers a game. The Drovers were expected to finish eighth in the SAC before the season.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Bo Overton returns to OCU for his second season as its head coach. Overton has coaching experience on the professional level in China, Russia and the WNBA, as well as college head-coaching experience with Missouri-Kansas City. Overton has been an assistant on the international level for the Bahamas and China, including the 2012 Olympics with the Chinese team.
Darrick Matthews has a 31-46 record as a head coach in his second season at USAO. USAO went 5-19 under Matthews last season. He led Southwestern Christian to an 18-19 record and a fourth place-finish in the National Christian College Athletic Association Division I Tournament in 2014-15. Matthews' experience includes one season as a Sul Ross State (Texas) assistant for the women's team.

QUOTABLE: "They're at the top of the conference right now. I guess you could say we're just trying to prove to everyone that we can play with the big dogs." – Matthews on Thursday's game vs. OCU

FOLLOW THE STARS: Fans can keep up on the latest from OCU athletics through several ways.
Check out OCU athletics on several social media platforms by looking up the handle @ocustars. The Stars are on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
Receive the latest OCU athletic headlines via e-mail by going here.
Catch the OCU Athletics Update video program weekly on ocusports.com, the OCU YouTube Channel or on OCU Athletics' Facebook page. Click here to see the latest edition or see our video channel in the upper right-hand corner of our home page.

ON THE AIR: OCU athletics has partnered with Stretch Internet to provide live and on-demand audio, stats and video of the Stars' games. Follow OCU's games via live audio, stats and video by visiting OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here. Cost to watch each game is $7.95 per game, $34.95 to see all 2016-17 home basketball games and $79.95 to watch all of OCU's action in every sport in 2016-17.
Andrew Himes serves as the play-by-play man. Himes, in his sixth season as the voice of the Stars, has been broadcasting OCU games for nine years starting on color commentary as an OCU student.

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Players Mentioned

#10 Leah Cheney: G; 5' 6"; Senior

#14 Janae Haag: F; 5' 10"; Senior

#22 Daniela Wallen: F; 5' 11"; Senior

#5 Daniela Galindo: G; 5' 10"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#10 Leah Cheney
: 5' 6"; Senior
: G

#14 Janae Haag
: 5' 10"; Senior
: F

#22 Daniela Wallen
: 5' 11"; Senior
: F

#5 Daniela Galindo
: 5' 10"; Junior
: G